A New Life
by Samuel3980
Summary: I'd always thought that normal life was rather mundane, but what was about to happen to me one sleep-depraved night was about to change that statement completely. Maybe it was for the better, or for the worse. But one thing was sure, I'd make one heck of a time out of it while I still could.
1. Chapter 1

My ears were being flooded by a high-pitched tone; the kind of noise that just randomly starts without any conceivable reason and refuses to stop; at least not until you've shaken your head into oblivion to try and get rid of it, leaving you dizzy and frustrated at your ears for not working properly. The sound was starting to become annoying, so I tried doing exactly that; yet instead of the sound disappearing, it just intensified. By now it was aggravating my eardrums to no end, prompting me to glance around in frustration to try and find the source of the irritating noise. However, upon looking around, I soon realised that the noise was much less concerning than what I could see.

Or, if you were looking for a more accurate description, what I couldn't see.

I seemed to be floating in a pitch black void, the stark absence of light or colour making itself readily apparent to me. No matter which direction I faced, I couldn't see anything. Or, rather, there wasn't anything to see. Various emotions surged to the forefront of my mind: shock, worry, what the hell did I do to deserve this?, and so forth. I was beginning to worry if I would be left here in this deathly abyss to wither away and die, or maybe just to survive in deathly boredom as some form of twisted punishment from the gods; but whatever was the controller of this domain soon made it apparent to me that I wouldn't get out of here that easily.

The ear-wrenching, brain-searing whine was being continually increased to an incomprehensible amplitude; having overtaken what I had assumed would be the universal volume limit at least ten seconds back. However, what the ever-increasing volume did do was enable me to pinpoint the direction in which it was coming from: somewhere to my left. Upon turning to face that way, I saw a pinprick of pure, white light. It was slowly getting larger and brighter, expanding in symphony with the sound which was just about starting to shatter my sanity into a trillion, tiny little pieces.

'Oh man', I thought. 'I'm not ready to die yet!' I mentally begged, making swimming motions with my body to try and get away, but to no avail. I was just starting to wish my barely functioning eardrums a good time in whatever dimension they went to for their afterlife; but as suddenly as I gained consciousness in this strange place, the sound and the light stopped and the air became disturbingly still.

Due to there being no shadows or '3D-ness', I had no idea how close the thing was to me. For all I knew, it could have been either a hundred metres away or staring into my soul from a mere foot in front of me. After a few minutes of staring at the light, I became fed up with the silence and decided to talk. I'm still not sure to this day whether doing so was a good idea or not.

"Where is this place, and what's happening to me? I swear if you try to do something horrible to me, I am definitely going to beat the shit out of you."

I liked to think that, at the time, I was being a brave hero who was standing up against a much more mighty and powerful foe. However, to anyone who heard me, my voice would have probably sounded very similar to that of a very, very scared five year old. I still like to imagine that the second statement wasn't the case; I can dream too, you know.

As I said before, I wasn't sure that I should have spoken up against the glowing orb; because as soon as I finished the sentence I heard an almost inaudible chant of "Your wish has been granted", and then I was plunging face-first into the overwhelming darkness below.

I woke up bleary-eyed, wondering what had just happened to me. I could clearly remember (sort of) what had happened last night, before I fell asleep. Through the hazy curtain of sleep deprivation, I could see myself pack away the dreaded homework I had done late that night, strip off my clothes and put on my nightwear, and then collapse in exhaustion onto my bed. My head slumped onto the pillow, and soon I was fast into the clutches of a dreamless (until the whole creepy black void and light thingy happened) sleep. I was a sixteen year old boy who was deathly tired because he had stayed up way too late playing computer games, and then even later trying to complete the cursed homework which he had somehow managed to completely forget about, even though it was due in the next day.

This morning, I didn't feel any different to before: No black magic, no extra limbs, no super powers. I was still just a very tired teenager, whose head wasn't resting on a pillow. I frowned in annoyance at myself for having somehow flung the pillow off from my bed. I had recently started to become good at not doing that, but apparently this was the international 'screw me over' day and the whole world, even the inanimate objects, seemed to be taking part in it. I searched around with my arm to try and reclaim the runaway bedding; but something didn't feel right...

And I still couldn't find that annoying pillow.

After flailing around without any form of success, I reluctantly decided to open my eyes and actually look for it. I probably wouldn't be able to get back to sleep, but oh well. I can't sleep without something to rest my head on anyway, so it was a lose-lose situation. I slowly opened my eyes as I was adjusting to the sunlight flowing in through the windows... wait a second. I thought I had closed my curtains before I went to bed; and that window is a completely different shape to mine.

My face drained of blood at the revelation; I wasn't in my room anymore. As I looked around, that point became almost too apparent. The room was large, with a few large windows lining one of the walls, facing outside. On the opposite side of the room was one of those glass doors in a metal frame that you found in fancy business places and such. The walls were a pristine white colour, disturbingly similar to that of a hospital. The room, however, was nothing compared to what was actually inside it with me.

Along the walls were basic hospital beds; most empty, and all without pillows (they should really get a bigger budget); but a few of them had what seemed to be animals in them. My eyes still weren't functioning properly, but once I blinked a few times, I had another look at the few creatures who were in here with me. As soon as I realised what they were, I almost went into shock.

They were pokémon.

A few minutes later, I deemed myself sufficiently calm enough to re-open my eyes and think without myself putting on a massive show which would have most likely drawn a lot of unwanted attention. So far it seemed as if I was in a pokémon centre, in the place where they most likely kept the injured pokémon; not humans or trainers or whatever. Wait. That must mean...

I took a hesitant glance at one of my hands; only to realise that it was no longer a hand, but a paw. I tried to keep myself from shouting out in both excitement and horror, lest someone think I'm going crazy. I had turned into a pokémon, well done me. I suppose that was what the light thingy meant by 'your wish has been granted'. Ever since Mystery Dungeon, I've had dreams about turning into a pokémon quite frequently. Unfortunately for me, playing the game also ruined the surprise a bit. However, what it didn't do was calm down the raging torrent of questions flowing through my mind. How did I get here? What happened? Why am I a pokémon? Am I really going to have to save the world?

I shoved all the questions into the back of my brain and forced myself to have a calm mind. Unfortunately, it seems that whatever pokémon I was couldn't use that move, so ten seconds later I gave up trying to placate the storm in my head and just dove back in. I might as well make the most of this while I can, because you have to admit being a pokémon sounds cool; and you never know, I might be on a time limit or something, so I can't waste time worrying about what I look like or anything else.

Actually, speaking of what I looked like, I decided to examine myself and figure out what pokémon I had turned into. I was currently lying on my side, enabling me to see all four of my animal-like legs. They were like those of a canine, with no arms or hands to be seen. I grimly noticed the lack of opposable thumbs, and concluded that I would definitely miss them; especially since it meant that I would have to do any form of carrying or gripping with my mouth, something which I was not looking forward to doing.

I pushed myself up into a sitting position and turned around to look at what was presumably going to be my tail. And indeed, there was a long, fluffy protrusion coming out from my backside. My whole body was covered in ash-grey fur; with an exception being that the fur on my paws, belly and face was black. Using this information, I managed to identify myself as a poochyena, the pre-volution of one of my favourite pokémon, mightyena.

However, I swore that something about me that shouldn't be missing was indeed missing. I mentally checked off the different parts of my body. Tail, check. Legs, check. Head, check. I racked my brain for answers as to why I felt so different, and eventually it struck me as to what had changed.

...I took a creeping glance down to my groin to see that where there once would have been my manhood, it was now replaced by the parts of the opposite gender. I struggled to keep myself calm. Turning into a pokémon was one thing, but becoming a female as well? I made it my top priority to confront the light that I had met in my sleep and give it a good beating; but rational thought told me that I should at least find out where I was before I went storming off to find my pranker. Well, that last sentence... actually, maybe the whole paragraph, was how I wished things had gone. But unfortunately, my brain doesn't work like that, so the story in fact continued like this...


	2. Chapter 2

"AAAAAAAAARGH!", I exclaimed. "WHAT HAPPENED TO MY COCK!", I shouted as I stared at my privates in horror. It was gone, everything was gone and was instead replaced by a gaping hole.

In my outburst I had woken some of the other pokémon here, or at least drawn their attention; because more than half of them were staring at me in either annoyance, curiosity or concern as I slumped down onto the bed. My brain made a point of saying that it probably wasn't permanent... well, at least once I turned back into a human, that is. I resigned myself into the deepest feelings of sorrow and hopelessness, emotions which I didn't usually encounter that often; but now them and my problems were all too real.

My brain tried feebly to cheer me up again. 'At least you could now see what it feels like to be on the female side of sex?', my brain suggested, plunging me even deeper into the ocean of sorrow. Now my brain was being added onto the hit-list for the later consideration of its fate after trying and failing dreadfully at trying to cheer me up. Or maybe it was working against me as well. Great, there's a conspiracy club against me: the membership list including the light thingy, the world in general, and my very own consciousness. What lovely friends I've made over the course of my life.

By now nurse Joy, the same woman with the same pink hair (I still didn't have a clue as to what reproduction process they used to make every one look exactly the same), had made it into the room to examine what all of the commotion, specifically my commotion, was about. I stared up at her with fearful eyes. Judging by my luck, anything could go wrong at any second: a plane crashing through the ceiling; people armed to the teeth with weapons bursting through the doorway; a doctor (Well, actually a nurse) diagnosing me with cancer. There were infinite numbers of possibilities for what terrible thing could happen next; and I did not want to be a part of any of them.

It seemed as if Joy had picked up on my fear, which was clearly expressed by my wide eyes and protective stance. However, she didn't know why I was being so nervous, so she took her best guess.

"It's alright, girl. You're in a pokémon centre, where we make pokémon better, okay? I'm not going to hurt you."

Being called 'girl' just brought back all of the feelings I had experienced only a couple of minutes ago, but they were quickly overtaken by my annoyance. The amount I wanted to shout at her how I wasn't just a dumb animal, but instead a human. A male human at that. However I got the suspicion that she wouldn't be able to understand me; instead hearing a series of indistinguishable 'poochy's, 'yena's and, prepare yourselves to be amazed by the awesomeness which is the pokémon dialect, a few whole 'poochyena's. Nevertheless, I tried anyway.

"Where am I?", I asked. Unfortunately, my suspicions were proved correct.

"I'm sorry, but humans can't understand pokémon. Let's get you fixed up and on your way to see the trainer who found you."

I sighed and collapsed in defeat. Wait... did she say trainer? I suddenly felt the need to escape this place, and fast. That trainer was most likely going to try and capture me, and I didn't feel the motivation to let that happen. No way after going through all of this was I going to become a human's battle slave, at least not until I've gotten my revenge on the thing that did this to me. I quickly started to formulate a plan while Joy was checking on some of the other pokémon.

All of the windows in this room were closed, and the door would be too heavy to open by myself. I sighed inwardly and decided to wait until Joy brought me out of this room. Maybe I could make an escape once I was out into the open lobby. After a few minutes of sitting there, Joy had finished what she was doing and turned to talk to me. I didn't get why Joy bothered to talk to me since most pokémon can't fully understand humans, but I guessed that a gentle voice might calm down some of the pokémon that were brought here. Either that or nurse Joy really needed to get out and socialise more in her spare time.

"Come on, let's get you out of here", she explained as she approached my bed.

Once she was within reach, her hands moved towards me and under my belly, picking me up as if I weighed nothing. I contemplated biting her out of spite of her treating me like a scared animal, but I reluctantly let her carry me out; my tiny body being cradled in her too-gentle arms. At least if she had been even the slightest bit rough with me, I could have gotten some sense of pride out of myself; but at the moment I was being treated like a scared child, and it just made me feel even more like one too. However, at the moment she was my only way out of here, and even though I was tempted to do something, I didn't want to lose the opportunity of escaping this place.

We emerged from the door into a hallway, which in turn led to a set of double doors which opened out into the pokémon centre's lobby. I tensed up; it was either now or never as she walked over to where a young trainer was standing next to what was presumably his squirtle. He looked like he would be a kind and caring trainer, but that didn't change any of my motivations. I tried to remember his face so maybe in the future I could say hello to him and say sorry for the scene I was about to create in front of him.

From the corner of my eye I saw a trainer head towards the centre's exit. I mentally apologised to Joy as I sunk my teeth into her arm, causing her to cry out in pain while she was forced to drop me. I bolted to the door just as it opened for the startled trainer that I sprinted past. I kept running for at least ten minutes, putting as much distance possible between me and the town. Even though I was only a (presumably) low level pokémon, I had bitten nurse Joy and some of the trainers may have chased after me.

As I slowed down I noticed that I didn't have anyone following me. I mentally thanked the Run Away ability; at least that didn't seem to want to screw me over. Despite the fact that I had been sprinting for the last ten minutes, I was surprisingly energised. As a human, I wouldn't have been able to travel even a quarter of the distance I had ran without being completely tired out at the end of it. However, one part of my body did demand some form of energy as my stomach rumbled.

I had no idea how long I was unconscious as a pokémon before I woke up, but I guessed it was a long time judging by the aching that was starting to make itself known in my stomach. I searched around for something to eat, and eventually came upon an oran berry bush. Last time I remembered, berries in the pokémon world grew on trees, but I wasn't about to challenge the minor deviation from what I had been told by the games and TV show as it meant that I would be able to reach the fruit more easily. My mouth started watering at the sight of those plump, blue berries and I immediately pounced on them; cramming as many as possible into my muzzle.

"Mmmmmm...", I managed to sound out through a mouth full of the juicy fruit flesh. I had somehow managed to cram five of the plum-sized berries into my mouth and was now finding it hard to chew it all without the juices escaping my mouth and flowing down my front. I would probably have to find somewhere to wash myself after this.

It took a surprising amount of berries to satiate my hunger, but once finished I was pleasantly full. I was just about to lie down when I heard footsteps behind me. I bolted into the nearest bush and stared at where the sound was coming from. As the sound grew louder I could make out two voices talking to each other.

"Those oran berries should be perfectly ripe by now, I can't wait to taste them", exclaimed one of the voices eagerly.

"Same here. You're really lucky to have one of the few bushes in the forest in your territory", stated the other voice. "I'm surprised you're letting me have any at all."

"Well, that's what friends are for, idiot! What kind of friend would I be if I hogged everything for myself?"

"Yeah, I suppose you're right."

I looked over sheepishly to the oran bush and noticed that there were only a few berries left from when I had eaten. I hoped that nothing bad happened because of it, although there wasn't any point in me saying that. Since when did bad things not happen to me?

Peering out from an opening in the leaves, I saw the two pokémon who were talking emerge from behind one of the nearby trees. The one closest to me was a houndour, and the pokémon following behind was a growlithe. Both of them were male, and both of them were surprised to see most of the berries gone and a little pool of juice from where it had overflowed out of my mouth. Unfortunately for me, the houndour's surprise quickly turned into anger.

"Grrrr! How could someone come into my territory and eat off of my oran bush!", he exclaimed while pacing back and forth in front of the bush. "Look!", he said, pointing (well, not pointing because he has no hands, but you get the idea) at the blue puddle on the floor, "It only happened a few minutes ago. That retard's just gone and done it right under my nose!"

The houndour started sniffing fervently at the air while I backed further into the bush. After only a few seconds it seemed as if he'd found something.

"I've got the scent. It's a poochyena, female as well. Once we find her I think we could have some fun to make up for all of our berries she's eaten", the houndour said with a sadistic grin on his his face.

He started to cast his gaze around, trying to find the trail. I swore he had locked eyes with me at least a couple of times before he caught the scent and started to head straight towards the bush in which I was hiding. Luckily, the growlithe inadvertently saved me.

"Come on, Blaze. If it was a poochyena then she would be long gone by now. Let's just eat the rest of the berries before they disappear and maybe we might find her later", he suggested.

The houndour turned to look at his friend, his expression conflicted between anger and acceptance. "Yeah, I guess you're right", he said as he began to walk away from my hiding place.

I let out a sigh of relief, which maybe was a bit too loud as I saw the houndour's ear twitch. He turned his head and faced directly at me, but eventually he dismissed the sound and walked back to his friend. I said a massive thank you to both the growlithe and my dark type powers. Without either of them I think I might have been that houndour's chew toy, or maybe even worse.

As they started eating, I slowly backed out of the bush and ran as soon as I thought that I was out of earshot. After a few minutes I slowed down to a walk, and then stopped completely when an eevee jumped out in front of me. It looked at me with what I thought was admiration; but I didn't remember doing anything that could deserve such a thing. The eevee just sat there with a disturbing smile on its face while it stared at me. This was quickly becoming very strange.

"Umm, can I help you?", I asked the eevee, whose only reply was to give me an even more unsettling grin.

"Are you alright?", I questioned. I was really starting to become concerned with the pokémon's silence. However, that silence was shattered when she started talking, words gushing out of her mouth like a high-pitched waterfall. I didn't know that such quick speech was possible when you could only use the syllables that made up the name of your species to speak; but apparently this was the day for all of my logic and reasoning to be disproved.

"Wow you were so amazing out there you like stole all of his berries and then you escaped but he nearly found you but he didn't 'cause you're so awesome and stealthy and he was soo frustrated 'cause you ate all his berries but you escaped and he didn't find you and mmph mmph mmph..."

I placed my paw over her mouth to try and get her to stop talking. The praise was very flattering, yet it was overwhelming at the same time; especially when it involved no punctuation whatsoever. When I removed my paw she was visibly out of breath and even started panting. She spent a little while trying to regain her breath before she started talking again, this time at a much more reasonable pace.

"Sorry, my ma told me not to talk to strangers, but I just couldn't hold it in!", the little eevee exclaimed while bouncing up and down hyperactively. She couldn't have been any older than the eevee equivalent of a ten year old, and I felt a bit awkward to know that I was talking to her when her mother specifically told her not to talk to strangers. I struggled to think of a reply.

"Uhh, thank you?", I answered.

"You're welcome!", the bubbly little eevee replied. "That houndour is a meanie. He's always bullying the pokémon who live in these woods and takes nearly all the good food for himself."

"Why doesn't anyone stop him?"

"He's one of the most powerful pokémon in the forest. If anyone stood up to him they would be beaten into a pulp!"

Hmm, I thought. Beaten into a pulp? We would have to see about that later. I would probably have to train for a bit to see how powerful I was, but I was sure that I could beat him. He was still a houndour, and he didn't look like he was anywhere close to evolving. To be honest, I didn't feel like I was anywhere close to evolving either, but I was sure that with my human intelligence and years of playing pokémon games, I could squish that houndour like Groudon could squish a caterpie. Well, at least in a simile kind of way. I was just about to get into the details of my imaginary houndour squishing before the eevee interrupted me with a very valid point.

"You don't seem like you're from around here, are you? 'Cause if not, you'll need a place to stay."

Now, I needed to think of a way to continue this conversation without making it obvious that I was actually a human who was actually from a different dimension. I decided that short and simple would be my best bet.

"No, I'm not from here", I replied, wondering where the little eevee was going with this.

"Well, if you don't have a place to stay, then you could stay in my house. It would be really cool to have you round, being super sneaky and all that. Maybe you could even steal a few sweets for us without my ma noticing."

"Umm, sure, I guess. That's if your mother would be alright with it. Also, I don't think sneaking round your house would be the politest thing to do if I was staying there, would it."

The eevee's face drooped, but it suddenly sparked up again. "That's alright, it would still be awesome to have you round. Follow me!"

The young eevee trotted down a small trail which wound through the forest. Occasionally there would be a few pokémon travelling in the opposite direction to us, but they gave me no attention. Apparently a ten year old girl leading someone; who was six years older than her and a dark type: who were especially known for being nefarious and evil; to her home was a common occurrence in the land of pokémon. And yet this girl's mother told her not to talk to strangers? These pokémon needed to get their priorities right.

After about five minutes of being led by the effervescent eevee, we finally arrived at her home. She said that her mother would be okay with this so nothing could go wrong, could it? Oh, how extremely incorrect I was...


	3. Chapter 3

Have you ever seen any of those documentaries where the cameramen get really close to mother elephants, saying how they were very protective of their young, and then get charged at when they get too close. Well, this was sort of the same idea, only instead of a mother elephant, it was a mother pokémon who probably had about one hundred times the power-to-weight ratio of an elephant. That made the two creatures roughly equal when it came to sheer force.

I barely had time to react as I heard the thunder of paws approaching me; and before I knew it, there was a very angry espeon slamming into my side, knocking me down onto the ground. Before I could recover my breath, she pounced on top of me, pinning me down as she glared daggers at me. Luckily the eevee girl came to my rescue before her mother could do any lasting damage.

"Ma, stop it! She's my friend!", the eevee exclaimed. Unfortunately, that wasn't enough for her mother to stop. In fact, it probably made her worse.

"What have I told you about making friends with strangers? They could be anyone! I bet you don't even know her name, do you?", the espeon replied. The eevee's ears dropped flat and her gaze shifted to the floor.

"No."

"Ugh", the mother said, annoyed but forgiving. "Please stop talking to strangers, Elizabeth." The espeon's eyes shifted to look at me, and her expression suddenly became much more serious. "As for you, missus dark pokémon, you are going to get out of here and never come back."

"But ma!", cried the eevee. "She tricked Blaze and stole nearly all of his oran berries! She's got to be a good pokémon for doing that."

The espeon's expression lightened for a brief second at the comment in what I thought might have been admiration before her face hardened again. I felt a little flattered at the statement, and then a whole lot more guilty because firstly; I had just happened to stumble in on those oran berries when I was hungry and didn't know that they belonged to anyone and secondly; it was more of a blind panic to not get found rather than trickery on my part. Oh well, the espeon probably wouldn't let me stay anyway. That statement was proved correct with her next sentence.

"Her stealing food from another pokémon just makes her even more suspicious, even if she did steal from that horrible houndour."

The espeon moved away from me and gave me a look which said the kind of 'go away' that you might expect from a heavily muscled wrestler-type guy when he catches you looking at his girlfriend. I stood up, aching where the espeon tackled me in the side and headed away from their home. The world really hated me today, didn't it?

I noticed that it was starting to get darker as I walked. It must have been quite late in the afternoon when I woke up in the pokémon centre if it was starting to get dark already. I wasn't feeling tired at all, and since I was a dark type, I guessed that I could become nocturnal for a while. It meant less people, less pokémon and made it easier to hide should either one of them decide to turn up.

Just as the sun had finally set I found a small clearing in which I would have enough space to practice some fighting techniques. I had recently played a game of Pokémon Black where I had cheated in a level one poochyena to catch and then used it as my only pokémon (plus a purrloin HM slave) to beat the champion with. It had reached level twenty-two before the game decided to crash when I had the DS screen folded down. Once that happened I couldn't be bothered to re-play the last half-hour of the game and instead went back to watching anime like the antisocial person I am.

Anyway, because of me playing the game, I could estimate what level I was by seeing what moves I currently knew. If I somehow managed to devise a test to see if I had the move Odor Sleuth and proved that I did in fact have it, then it meant that I was roughly the equivalent of level seventeen: one level away from evolving into a mightyena. Or at least that was if this dimension was anything like the games; which for all I knew could be a completely untrue statement.

Anyway, I decided that first, I might want to start off with the basics... Tackle.

I lined myself up with a nearby tree and prepared to charge at it. I counted down mentally in my head. This was either going to be the countdown for me finding out that I'm awesome, or me giving myself a major concussion. I started the count from three... two... one...

I launched myself at full speed towards the tree, sprinting forward for what seemed like minutes before I hit it head on. I heard the rustle of disturbed leaves along with the sharp crack of splintering wood and the annoyed chirps of some pidgeys who were sleeping in the nearby branches. I backed away and realised that I hadn't hurt myself at all. No bruises, no cuts, no memory loss. However, the same couldn't be said for the tree.

Where I had hit it, there was a massive, forehead-shaped indent along with splintered wood and a metre-long crack, which snaked vertically up from where my skull had connected with the unfortunate flora. I was amazed at how powerful I was; and extremely thankful that game physics apparently over-rode the Newtonian physics which seemed predominant in my 'home' dimension; specifically the law stating that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. If it was real physics (although in fact they should probably be called 'false physics' here) that took the priority, I'm pretty sure that my brain would have been spilling onto the floor in some form of pink gloop by now.

Anyway, with my short celebration over it was time to test out some stronger moves. The next move that poochyena learns is Howl, but I didn't feel like letting everyone know exactly where I was; especially that houndour who I was going to squish sometime in the future. Next was Sand Attack, but I was pretty sure that I could do that anyway; since it's really just me kicking up some dirt in somebody's face, and I never found that not being a pokémon which knew that move stopped me from doing that to people before. After that was Bite, which would be much easier and way more fun to test.

I looked around for something to test my attack on. Despite the fact that it was almost pitch black by now, I had the same amount of vision, maybe more, than when it was daytime. Yet again, pokémon physics (although maybe this part was more to do with pokémon biology) was taking the upper hand in this world full of weirdos. I soon came across a fallen branch which I could comfortably fit my mouth around. I opened my mouth as wide as possible and surrounded the branch with my gaping maw. I did another countdown and when I bit down on the branch, I was astonished beyond measure.

Where there had once been a whole branch, there were now two pieces of wood which were about a third of the original length, along with the remaining third of the branch in splinters. I spat out the bits of wood that were in my mouth and stared at the desecrated tree limb. I was overpowered! I could beat that houndour without even trying. Or maybe it was normal for pokémon to have this much power. Either way, I think I should maybe change my power-to-weight comparison from one hundred times to one thousand times stronger.

With that test complete, I ticked off bite and moved on to the next move, Odor Sleuth. It would be hard to see whether I could actually use the move, but it gave me an excuse to play around with dark energy. I delved inside of me to try and find whatever the energy that was used to perform all of my special attacks. After plunging my consciousness into myself, I finally came across what seemed to be a pool of a black substance which seemed to be halfway between a liquid and a gas; flowing around in its container but not always sticking to where gravity says it should be.

I reached out to the pool and tried to mentally grab some of it and to my surprise when I pulled on it, the black substance flowed out, following where I directed it to go. I guided it out of my body until I could see it clearly in front of me. I wondered how I could turn this black blob that was floating in front of me into an actual move. Part of the move description of Odor Sleuth was that it lets you hit evasive foes. Does that mean you put it on like goggles or something and then it lets you see where they're going to move?

At the time I had no other ideas for what I could do, so I guided the energy towards my eyes and as soon as it made contact, it literally dived in. I was worried for a second when I realised that I had suddenly lost control of the energy and felt it disappear. However, after looking into my eyes (yes, I know it sounds strange but that's how it felt) I felt the energy inside of them, and once I looked back to my surroundings, I was amazed yet again by my powers.

It was as if I had turned on x-ray vision, only instead of seeing bones, I saw the energy of other creatures which filled their bodies. I could see everything in perfect detail. However, the trees and plants were getting in the way of my vision, so I tried to do something about it. I focused on the energy which filled the plants in the forest, and sort of tuned the energy in my eyes to ignore it. The results were spectacular; I could now see every pokémon in the forest without any of the foliage interrupting my vision.

I tried focusing on just the energy of the pidgeys and as a result could only see the pidgeys. I tried to go even further by singling out a single pokémon and to my extreme delight, I could now only see that one pokémon. I was ecstatic at my discoveries. Why didn't they have this in the games!

I revelled in my newly found powers until I used my reasoning skills to wonder if this kind of enhancement could be applicable to other senses. I moved the energy from my eyes to my ears. Once again, it took time for my body to adjust before the effects started to become noticeable; but when they did I felt it immediately. My hearing was enhanced to a level beyond comprehension. I was bombarded with the sounds of my surroundings. The breathing of nearby pokémon, which before now I couldn't hear, was now as loud as a jet engine whirring a mere few metres away. I could hear the scurrying of other nocturnal pokémon, the voice of a mother pidgeotto trying to get her children to sleep after they were woken up by a loud noise (Whoops, that was probably me). Everything I was experiencing now was something I had never thought was possible before five seconds ago.

Like before, I focused the energy towards different sounds and like before, I could now only hear those specified noises. I tried the same things with smell and touch, and they too were enhanced to the same level as my sight and hearing were. I was able to smell scents from weeks ago which any other pokémon wouldn't have even noticed. I could feel every disturbance in the area around me, sensing the vibrations through the earth to locate the nearby creatures with pinpoint accuracy. I discovered I could even do a four-way split, siphoning equal amounts of energy into each of the aforementioned senses to gain what was essentially a three-dimensional map of my nearby surroundings. Each of the senses separately were no longer as precise as they used to be, but combined they were the ultimate detection tool.

Unfortunately, I had the feeling that none of the powers I just experienced actually had anything to do with the move Odor Sleuth, but I thought that they were way cooler anyway; so I really couldn't have cared less at the time. Maybe if I came across a ghost pokémon I could ask them to help me out, but until then I had other awesome dark energy-related things to do.

I removed the energy from my body and pooled it in front of me. In these last twenty minutes I had found out that I had super strength and super senses; yet I still didn't have a decent ranged attack. Heh, I thought. Nothing that a bit of dark magic manipulation couldn't fix.

I formed the substance into the shape of a thin, pointed rod and directed it towards a nearby tree. It was of a pitiful size, being about a third of the length of a conventional javelin; but it was a start, I guess. With all of my concentration I focused on firing the energy at the tree and it rocketed off into the direction I specified; travelling at such as speed that had it been a physical object it would have ripped right through the tree and come right out of the other side.

Unfortunately for me, I completely overlooked making it a physical object so it flew right through the tree and came out the other side without leaving any mark whatsoever. What it did do though was barrel out the other side at such a high speed that I nearly lost control and let it fly off into the woodlands. Luckily for me, even if they were the only thing helping me in this world, my pokémon powers quickly took hold of the situation and dragged back the energy before it could fly any further than a few metres.

I formed the spear shape again, this time imagining it compacting and turning into a solid object. I stared in amazement as the black substance transformed into a perfectly smooth, translucent black crystal which glistened in the moonlight. I tried to move it around with my mind and to my surprise it followed my directions. I lined it up with a nearby tree and launched it. The results were beyond any of my expectations.

Where there had once been a smooth trunk, there was now a very splintered trunk with an inch-wide hole in it. The improvised spear had travelled straight through. As I searched for the spear, I discovered that the tree behind the original target also had a miniature tunnel that started on one side of the trunk and came right out the opposite side. The next tree behind had also suffered a similar fate. I was continually amazed as I walked past the destruction that my weapon had made. It was only until the fifth tree when I found the crystalline rod embedded halfway into the wood.

I gingerly pulled it out with my mind, worried that it might decide to explode after all of the energy forced upon it, and was ecstatic when I found that I could control it just as well as before. I re-shaped it into a blade and experimented hacking at the nearby bushes which parted effortlessly at the edge of the unnaturally fine blade. That houndour was going to get the surprise of his life when he next saw me.

As I returned to the clearing I absorbed the dark essence and returned it to the pool in my body where I had found it. It seemed as if it had been used up by my experimenting with it as it felt like I was putting back less than I had taken out. I was disappointed at the fact that my powers were a finite resource, but tonight had still been extremely productive. I had found out that I could use both tackle and bite with deadly force; and I could also use the dark power inside of me to either enhance my senses or use it as a powerful and destructive weapon, even if it would run out eventually if I used it too much without giving it time to regenerate.

I sat down and decided to practice a bit more with the energy. I practiced moving it about and forming intricate shapes with it. I tried to change it from its energy state to its solid state and then back again in as quick a time as possible; and I also used some of the unfortunate local shrubbery as targets for some experimental battling techniques. Just as I was about to cut another bush to shreds, I heard what I thought was a tiny sneeze, followed by a cry of 'eep!' as whatever creature it was saw that I had heard it.

I started searching around for whatever had created the noise, but then realised how stupid I was when I could have just used my enhanced senses to find the thing that was hiding nearby. I flooded the energy into my eyes as I scanned the nearby shrubbery. Eventually I found some energy that was in the shape of an... eevee? I called out in the eevee's direction.

"Hello? I can see you, you know", I said, hoping that I didn't scare it off, me being a dark pokémon and all.

"Hi. I'm sorry that I was watching you", came the reply from the bushes. A figure emerged from behind the leaves, and I immediately recognised it as the eevee which I had met earlier today. "I sometimes come here at night, but since you were practicing I didn't want to disturb you."

"Uhh, thanks?", I replied.

"You're welcome!", she exclaimed. "I've never seen those kind of moves before, but they looked really cool. Are they special dark type moves or something?"

The eevee looked so innocent when asking me these questions, yet she didn't have any clue as to what complicated thoughts she was bringing up in my mind. At the moment it seemed like there was a boxing match in my brain between Suspicion and Reason. 'Quick, kill her while there aren't any witnesses!', said Suspicion. 'Don't listen to him, he's crazy. Just make something up and hope that it doesn't catch you out later", said Reason.

If I hadn't realised by now that the world was out to screw me over, I might have been tempted to do what Suspicion said. However, killing an eevee with whom I was seen with by her overprotective mother only a few hours ago, and then having her body found in the direction where I had walked off to was most likely going to give me a bad reputation. And knowing the world, it would make sure that the news was spread so rapidly and exaggerated so much that wherever I went I would be attacked by pokémon who would think that I was a homicidal maniac; which, by that point, I probably would have been if I was listening to Mr. Suspicion for most of my advice.

Luckily, I managed to think of an excuse which didn't sound completely stupid.

"Uhh, its more of a genetic thing."

Okay, maybe it did sound completely stupid; but what's done is done, and I couldn't exactly correct myself otherwise it would just make her think I was even stranger than before. The young eevee tilted her head in confusion for a bit before brightening up and answering.

"Cool! Do you think I could learn it?"

I sighed inwardly at having to talk with someone so ignorant, but maybe it also meant that she wouldn't be able to tell if I was lying or not. Although, judging by my luck, she would probably end up pointing me out on the simplest of questions such as 'what is your name?'. It seemed that the world had heard my thoughts as that was the next question that the eevee asked me.

"What's your name?"

"It's Sam."

"I thought that was a boy's name?"

'Ha!' I mentally exclaimed. Screw you, world; I'd prepared this one ahead of time, and my excuse was specially designed so it meant that I could keep using my old name.

"It's short for Samantha."

"Isn't that a name from Sinnoh?"

Shit. I hadn't prepared for that.

"I was born there", I lied. I knew this was going to spiral out of control from here onwards.

"How come you're over here in Johto then?"

"Umm, I was with a trainer who came over here?", I guessed. It came out as more of a question than an answer, but it turned out that it was a good enough explanation as the eevee asked a different question. Unfortunately, it was even more awkward to answer than the previous one.

"How come you're in the wild then?"

"I ran away."

At least that last statement was partly true. I did run away from a trainer just this afternoon, and he was probably about to capture me. Well, I didn't know if that was true or not; but its the thought that counts, right?

"Why did you run away?", asked the eevee, looking shocked and confused at my answer. She obviously hadn't read any of the pokémon POV fanfics where they get caught in a pokéball and describe how terrible it was.

"Its horrible!", I replied dramatically. "They force you to fight battles against other pokémon for their own pleasure, and they keep you trapped inside these balls for hours on end!"

"Oh", the eevee meekly replied. "I'm sorry I mentioned it."

"Oh no, don't be sorry. Just don't talk about it, okay?"

"Okay."

Whew, that was close. There were a couple of times there when I thought that I would be busted, but I managed to keep up my act to a believable standard the whole way through. I was very impressed with myself. In fact, I felt so impressed that I decided to ask a question of my own.

"Anyway, what are you doing here at this time? Most eevees your age would be asleep by now."

For the last part I faked the voice of a mother who was scolding her child for staying up too late, and to my surprise, the little eevee actually laughed.

"Heeheehee, that sounds like my ma when she's angry at me for doing something I shouldn't", she exclaimed.

"Come on, you still haven't told me why you're here."

The eevee brought her head in close to me and whispered into my ear.

"It's 'cause I want to become an umbreon, but my ma doesn't know. I'm training so I can be big and strong and take on Blaze all by myself."

The sheer volume of determination in the eevee's voice astounded me, but I doubted that she would be able to get far in a battle against Blaze, who was most likely older and had more experience than her. Saying that, I had practically no experience of battling, yet I was aiming to fight the houndour sometime in the next few days. I figured that I might need some extra training, so I decided to strike a deal with the eevee.

"How about we train together then? I want to beat up that houndour as much as you do, and we'll get stronger faster if we practice with another pokémon."

"Sure! I can show you something I learnt yesterday."

"Alright then", I replied, preparing for the eevee to come slamming into me. However, that was not the case.

The eevee took a few steps back so that she was about a metre away from me, and then started growling at me. It was cute at first, but I was shocked when I suddenly became scared of her; a ten year old eevee who I could probably beat in a fight anytime. I couldn't help but give her my respect.

"Wow, I felt really scared for a moment there!", I praised.

"Its cool, isn't it!", she exclaimed as she ran around, growling at random trees and bushes. In doing so, she inadvertently managed to scare a pidgey off from its branch when it looked down to see what the noise was about and was confronted by the eevee's threatening snarl.

"Yeah, remind me not to get on your bad side!", I joked as she ran back towards me.

We spent the next couple of hours fighting with each other, playing what was essentially tag as we hurtled into one another. The eevee was surprisingly strong, and I had a couple of bruises from where she had tackled me. However, she was nowhere near as strong as I was, so I made sure that I didn't accidentally use one of my moves which might have ended up seriously hurting her.

At the end of it, I lay down under one of the trees as the eevee repeatedly pounced on me, trying to get me to play for a bit longer. Despite the fact that I had only been up for six hours, I was extremely tired and felt the need to sleep pressing upon me like dead weight. It seemed that the eevee was also starting to become tired as she lay down next to me; snuggling up against my front as I drifted off into the comforting arms of sleep.


End file.
